How we cite our quotes: (Essay.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Man] has no time to be anything but a machine. (Economy.6)
Technology has a way of dehumanizing the people who use it. Thoreau would probably say that nature, on the other hand, makes us more human.
Quote #2
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. (Economy.72)
What would Thoreau have made of the pretty toys we call iPhones?
Quote #3
Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not; but whether we should live like baboons or like men, is a little uncertain. (Where I Lived.17)
Thoreau questions our priorities. Should we really be spending our lives trying to ride a zippy at thirty miles an hour, or should we instead turn to the real tough questions about life?